9.  The applicant, born in 1936, lives in Vienna (Austria).
10.  At the relevant time the applicant was the owner of several firms, whose business was trading in fowl and game as well as the processing, importation and exportation of meat. From 1975 onwards, one of the firms imported meat, processed it and re-exported it without putting it on the domestic market. Such an activity is exempted from restrictions to which the ordinary importation of meat is subject and the applicant was accordingly issued a permit for inward processing (aktiver Veredelungsverkehr) setting out the conditions for import and export.
11.  On 25 June 1981 the Investigating Judge at the Vienna Regional Court (Landesgericht) instituted preliminary investigations against the applicant who was suspected of having breached the conditions of the inward processing permit by having exported a different quality of meat than he had imported and by having put the imported meat onto the domestic market without having paid the customs duties. These acts constituted offences under the Act on Fiscal Offences (Finanzstrafgesetz), the Trade in Animals Act (Viehwirtschaftsgesetz) and the Export Act (Aussenhandelsgesetz). Subsequently, the Investigating Judge ordered searches at the offices of the applicant's firms and at the cold storage depots where the meat had been kept. The applicant's stock of meat was seized.
12.  On 24 June 1982 bankruptcy proceedings (Konkursverfahren) were opened against the applicant and, at an unspecified date, he was declared bankrupt. On 12 October 1983 the applicant was arrested and remanded in custody on suspicion of fraud. In 1984 he was convicted of that offence and sentenced to two and a half years' imprisonment. Subsequently, he was convicted of other criminal offences on two occasions and sentenced to further terms of imprisonment. In 1992 he was eventually released.
13.  Meanwhile, on 25 February 1987 the Vienna Customs Office submitted a report on the charges in respect of which the proceedings had been opened on 25 June 1981 to the Public Prosecutor's Office and supplemented this report on 23 October 1987.
14.  The Animals and Meat Commission (Vieh- und Fleischkommission), which is the authority competent under the Trade in Animals Act to decide on the relevant amount for the assessment of the fine, gave its decision on 30 December 1987. On 15 February 1988 the applicant appealed against this decision and on 31 October 1990 the competent Federal Minister dismissed the appeal. On 25 September 1991 the Administrative Court dismissed a complaint by the applicant against the Animals and Meat Commission's decision.
15.  In the meantime, on 26 February 1990, the Vienna Customs Office (Zollamt) issued tax orders claiming outstanding customs duty and importation turnover tax (Einfuhrumsatzsteuer). It considered that the customs privileges linked to the inward processing permit were no longer applicable to certain quantities of meat imported in 1980. On 7 May 1990 the applicant appealed.
16.  On 28 January 1994 the Vienna Public Prosecutor's Office indicted the applicant of the offences in respect of which preliminary investigations had been opened on 25 June 1981. Subsequently an ex officio defence counsel was appointed for the applicant, who filed objections to the indictment. On 24 June 1994 the Regional Court dismissed these objections as unfounded.
17.  On 31 May 1994 the applicant was summoned to attend trial before the Regional Court on 12 and 13 July 1994. Since the applicant was in hospital, the trial could not take place and was postponed until 14 and 15 July 1994. Again, the applicant did not appear. The trial was adjourned and a warrant of arrest issued.
18.  On 13 February 1995 the Regional Court interrupted the proceedings as the applicant's address was unknown.
19.  On 31 Mai 1995 the Vienna Public Prosecutor requested the Regional Court to discontinue the proceedings in accordance with the 1995 Amnesty Act in respect of all criminal offences committed before 27 April 1980. According to Section 1 § 3 of this Act, criminal proceedings may be discontinued if they concern charges with offences which had been committed before 27 April 1980 and where the maximum sanction did not exceed three years' imprisonment.
20.  On 19 December 1996 the applicant was served with a new summons for trial on 22 April 1997.
21.  On 27 December 1996 the competent Regional Tax Authority (Finanzlandesdirektion) quashed the Customs Office's orders of 26 February 1990. If found that, in part, the customs and tax assessment proceedings had become time-barred and, in respect of the remaining charges, it accepted the applicant's argument that, under the permit for inward processing, he had exported the same meat as he had previously imported but, as a favour to his clients, he had mentioned a different quality of meat in the export declaration.
22.  On 16 April 1997 the Regional Court discontinued the criminal proceedings.